Current Affairs National
KTR inaugurates ‘Wings India 2018’ in Hyderabad
- Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao on Thursday inaugurated the biennial event on Civil Aviation and Aerospace titled ‘Wings India 2018’ at the Begumpet Airport.
- Jointly organised by the Civil Aviation Ministry, Airports Authority of India and the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the four-day event got underway at a colourful function.
Mumbai, Delhi emerge as world’s best airports in global passenger survey
- ACI announced its annual airport service quality (ASQ) awards on Tuesday and Mumbai tied with Delhi for the top position among airports handling over 40 million passengers annually.
- Beijing and Shanghai Pudong have been ranked second. With seven other airports making it to the top three (in various categories), India has the highest number of awards.
- China is second (six airports), followed by Indonesia (4).
Karnataka State flag unveiled
- The Siddaramaiah government on Thursday unveiled the State flag (nada dhwaja) for Karnataka. If approved by the Centre, Karnataka will be the second State to have a flag after Jammu and Kashmir.
- The yellow-white-red flag has the State emblem at the centre.
- The proposal will be now sent to the Union Home Ministry for approval, since a State has no powers to announce its own flag.
TDP Ministers Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Y.S. Chowdary resign from Union Cabinet
- Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary of the Telugu Desam Party submitted their resignations to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- This is the first instance of an ally pulling out of the Modi government.Following this, BJP Ministers Kamineni Srinivas (Health) and Pydikondala Manikyala Rao (Endowments) resigned from the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet, headed by N. Chandrababu Naidu.
- Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan accepted the resignations after the letters were forwarded by the Chief Minister’s Office.
Mumbai ranks 47th on wealth index
- As per the report, which was unveiled globally on Wednesday, Mumbai ranked 47th on the city wealth index among 314 global cities.
- Mumbai also figures among the top 20 costliest global cities, where $1 million can buy only 92 square metres of real estate.
- The report said Mumbai and Delhi would be among the top 10 markets to witness the highest addition in households earning more than $250,000 annually between 2017 and 2022.
Diu becomes first UT to run 100% on solar power
- Solar energy has made Diu the country’s first energy surplus Union territory and a model for an effective way for people to harness this renewable energy source.
- In just three years, Diu has made rapid progress in solar power generation.
- The Union territory has an area of just 42 square kilometres.
- Despite scarcity of land, solar power plants have been installed over more than 50 acres.
- Diu generates a total of 13 megawatts of electricity from solar power generating facilities daily.
Jharkhand doctor gets Nari Shakti award from President
- Jharkhand doctor Bharti Kashyap was on Thursday conferred with the “Nari Shakti Puraskar-2017” by President Ram Nath Kovind for her exemplary service to society and contribution to women’s empowerment.
- Kashyap, a Ranchi-based eminent ophthalmologist, received the award at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on International Women’s Day.The award carries a certificate and a cash honorarium of 1 lakh.
Biplab Kumar Deb sworn-in as new Chief Minister of Tripura
- Biplab Kumar Deb was sworn-in as the tenth Chief Minister of Tripura, assuming the charge of the first BJP government in the state after trouncing the Left Front government who ruled the northeastern state for 25 years.
- The swearing-in ceremony, held at the Assam Rifles ground, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah, Union home minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leaders Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi.
Neiphiu Rio sworn in as Nagaland CM
- The Bharatiya Janata Party and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (BJP-NDPP)-led People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA) leader Neiphiu Rio was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Nagaland today.
- Nagaland governor PB Acharya administered the oath of office and secrecy to Rio and other council ministers at the swearing-in ceremony at 11.30 am.
- Y Patton, who is already elected as the leader of BJP Legislature Party, was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.
Current Affairs Business and Economy
India’s Biggest M&E Services Market, enTTech 2018 inaugurated in Mumbai
- India’s biggest Media & Entertainment Services Market – enTTech 2018 was inaugurated on 7 March in Mumbai. The market, spread over two days (March 7 – 8, 2018) will see fast matchmaking between 100 international delegates and their Indian counterparts.
- Speaking at the inaugural function through video message, Union Minister for Commerce & Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu said that technology is driving all activities and that young minds are the incubators of new ideas.
ISA-ADB, NDB, GCF, AfDB and AIIB joint declarations of Financial partnership
- The International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the African Development Bank (AfDb), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Green climate fund (GCF), and the New Development Bank (NDB) signed Joint financial partnership Declarations on Saturday.
- The International Energy Agency (IEA) also signed a Joint partnership Declaration with the ISA. The agreements were signed in the presence of Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs and Shri R.K. Singh, Minister of State (I/C) for Power and New and Renewable Energy.
- The objective of the agreements is to deepen their cooperation in support of Renewable Energy.
Paytm Money receives Sebi nod as registered investment adviser
- Paytm Money, has received approval of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to become a registered investment advisor.
- The nod from Sebi will allow the company to roll out investment and wealth management products to consumers across the country.
Current Affairs Sports
Delhi high jumper Tejaswin Shankar smashes national record to book CWG ticket
- Delhi youngster Tejaswin Shankar smashed his own national record to claim the high jump gold as three athletes booked their Commonwealth Games berths on the third and penultimate day of the 22nd Federation Cup Senior National Athletics Championships on Wednesday.
- The 19-year-old Shankar sailed over the bar at 2.28m to marginally improve his own national mark of 2.26m which he achieved in Coimbatore in 2016 during the Junior National Championships.
- In the process, he breached the Athletics Federation of India qualifying standards of 2.25m for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
Ayyasamy Dharun breaks Joseph Abraham’s 400m hurdles national record
- Ayyasamy Dharun won the 400m hurdles with a national record-breaking timing of 49.45s on the final day of the Federation Cup in Patiala.
- Dharun, who specialises in 400m, also bettered the Athletics Federation of India’s Commonwealth Games guideline on his way to the gold medal.
- Santhosh Kumar (50.14s) and Ramachandran M (51.61s) were the other two runners on the podium.
Current Affairs World
Marshall Islands creates its own virtual money to pay bills
- The Marshall Islands is creating its own digital currency in order to raise some hard cash to pay bills and boost the economy.
- The Pacific island nation said it became the first country in the world to recognize a cryptocurrency as its legal tender when it passed a law this past week to create the digital “Sovereign,” or SOV.
- In the nation of 60,000, the cryptocurrency will have equal status with the U.S. dollar as a form of payment.
Indian Military Ranked Fourth Strongest in World
- Out of 133 countries, India is ranked fourth on a global index for its military strength, only the United States, Russia and China are ranked above India on the list.
- Meanwhile, neighbouring Pakistan is ranked 13th on the Global Firepower index 2017.
- India maintained its position above France in the top five military powers in the world, while Pakistan made it to the top 15 countries on the list in 2017.
- Other global powers – United Kingdom, Japan, Turkey, Germany and Egypt make the top ten list.
French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in India on 4-day visit
- French President Emmanuel Macron arrived India on Saturday on a four-day India visit and was received at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a special gesture.
- Mr. Macron was accompanied by his wife Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron, besides senior ministers from his Cabinet.
- “Welcome to India, President @EmmanuelMacron! Your visit will add great strength to the strategic partnership between India and France. I look forward to our talks tomorrow,” Modi tweeted after receiving Macron at the airport.
Current Affairs Miscellaneous
Uber India signs Virat Kohli as its first brand ambassador
- Uber, the ridesharing app, has signed on Virat Kohli, captain of the Indian Cricket team, as its first brand ambassador in India.
- This is for the first time that Uber has signed any brand ambassador across the Asia Pacific region.
- “We are extremely delighted to sign on Virat Kohli to bat as brand ambassador for Uber India. His commitment to India on and off the field is commendable – from bagging world titles for the country to advocating positive change, he is invested in making a difference to the community at large,” said Amit Jain, President, Uber India & SA.
Balkrishna Doshi wins architecture’s top Pritzker Prize, first Indian to do so
- Nonagenarian architect and reputed urban planner Balkrishna Doshi has been named this year’s winner of architecture’s highest honour — the Pritzker Prize, becoming the first Indian to do so.
- His designs include the IIM-Bangalore; Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad; cultural spaces in Ahmedabad such as Tagore Memorial Hall, the Institute of Indology, and Premabhai Hall; and private residence Kamala House (Ahmedabad), among many others.
- Tom Pritzker, chairman of the Hyatt Foundation that sponsors the award made the ammouncement in Chicago, selecting Doshi as the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate.
- The award ceremony will take place at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto this May.
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